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Ai-musan ki’ik: Istoria kona-ba Wangari Maathai A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai

Written by Nicola Rijsdijk

Illustrated by Maya Marshak

Translated by Aurelio da Costa

Read by Aurelio da Costa, Vitalina dos Santos, Criscencia R. Da Costa Viana

Language Tetum

Level Level 3

Narrate full story

Reading speed

Autoplay story


Iha suku ida iha foho Kenya nia klaran iha Afrika Leste, labarik ki’ik ida servisu iha to’os ho ninia mama. Ninia naran mak Wangari.

In a village on the slopes of Mount Kenya in East Africa, a little girl worked in the fields with her mother. Her name was Wangari.


Wangari gosta iha liur bebeik. Iha nia família sira nia to’os nia ke’e rai ho katana. Nia hanehan tama ai-musan ki’ik ba rai laran.

Wangari loved being outside. In her family’s food garden she broke up the soil with her machete. She pressed tiny seeds into the warm earth.


Ninia tempu favoritu loron-loron mak depois loron-monu. Bainhira rai nakaras demais atu haree planta sira, Wangari hatene katak ne’e tempu atu fila uma. Nia sei la’o tuir dalan klo’ot husi toos laran, hakur mota iha nia viajen.

Her favourite time of day was just after sunset. When it got too dark to see the plants, Wangari knew it was time to go home. She would follow the narrow paths through the fields, crossing rivers as she went.


Wangari labarik ida ne’ebé matenek no nia la pasiensia ona atu ba eskola. Maibé ninia inan no papa hakarak nia atu hela no ajuda sira iha uma. Bainhira nia iha idade hitu, ninia maun bo’ot konvense ninia inan-papa atu husik nia ba eskola.

Wangari was a clever child and couldn’t wait to go to school. But her mother and father wanted her to stay and help them at home. When she was seven years old, her big brother persuaded her parents to let her go to school.


Nia gosta atu aprende! Wangari aprende barak liu-tan husi livru ne’ebé nia lee. Ninia atinjimentu iha eskola diak tebes ho nune’e nia hetan konvite atu ba estuda iha Estadus Unidus da America. Wangari kontente loos! Nia hakarak hatene liu-tan kona-ba mundu. I

She liked to learn! Wangari learnt more and more with every book she read. She did so well at school that she was invited to study in the United States of America. Wangari was excited! She wanted to know more about the world.


Iha universidade Americana Wangari aprende buat foun barak. Nia estuda kona-ba ai-horis sira no oinsá sira sai bo’ot. No nia hanoin hetan oinsá nia sai bo’ot: halimar jogu sira ho ninia maun sira iha ai-hun ninia mahon okos iha ai-laran furak Kenya nian.

At the American university Wangari learnt many new things. She studied plants and how they grow. And she remembered how she grew: playing games with her brothers in the shade of the trees in the beautiful Kenyan forests.


Buat barak liu-tan mak nia aprende, nia realiza liu-tan katak nia hadomi ema Kenya. Nia hakarak sira atu kontente no livre. Buat barak liu-tan mak nia aprende, nia hanoin hetan liu-tan ninia rai Afrikana.

The more she learnt, the more she realised that she loved the people of Kenya. She wanted them to be happy and free. The more she learnt, the more she remembered her African home.


Bainhira nia remata tiha ninia estudu, nia fila ba Kenya. Maibé ninia nasaun iha mudansa tiha ona. To’os luan no naruk. Feto sira laiha ai hodi te’in. Ema sira ki’ak no labarik sira hamlaha.

When she had finished her studies, she returned to Kenya. But her country had changed. Huge farms stretched across the land. Women had no wood to make cooking fires. The people were poor and the children were hungry.


Wangari hatene atu halo saida. Nia hanorin feto sira atu kuda ai husi ai-musan sira. Feto sira fa’an ai-hun sira ne’e no uza osan hodi tau matan ba sira nia familia. Feto sira kontente tebes. Wangari ajuda tiha ona sira atu sente iha poder no forte.

Wangari knew what to do. She taught the women how to plant trees from seeds. The women sold the trees and used the money to look after their families. The women were very happy. Wangari had helped them to feel powerful and strong.


Tempu kontinua dadaun, ai-hun foun sira moris sai ai-laran, no mota sira komesa sulin fali. Wangari ninia mensajen habelar iha Afrika. Ohin loron, ai-hun millaun mak moris ona husi Wangari ninia ai-musan sira.

As time passed, the new trees grew into forests, and the rivers started flowing again. Wangari’s message spread across Africa. Today, millions of trees have grown from Wangari’s seeds.


Wangari servisu maka’as. Ema sira husi mundu tomak, komesa nota, no fó ba nia premiu famozu. Premiu ne’e hanaran Nobel da Paz, no nia mak feto Afrikana primeiru atu simu premiu ne’e.

Wangari had worked hard. People all over the world took notice, and gave her a famous prize. It is called the Nobel Peace Prize, and she was the first African woman ever to receive it.


Wangari mate iha tinan 2011, maibé ami bele hanoin hetan kona-ba nia bainhira ami haree ai-hun furak ida.

Wangari died in 2011, but we can think of her every time we see a beautiful tree.


Written by: Nicola Rijsdijk
Illustrated by: Maya Marshak
Translated by: Aurelio da Costa
Read by: Aurelio da Costa, Vitalina dos Santos, Criscencia R. Da Costa Viana
Language: Tetum
Level: Level 3
Source: A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai from African Storybook
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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